PM Narendra Modi launches BHIM-Aadhaar platform

At another function in the city, the Prime Minister launchedBHIM Aadhaar, a cashless payment mode based on biometric identification of thumb print and presented awards to winners of the mega draw under Lucky Grahak Yojana and Digi-dhan Vyapar Yojana.

About 5,000 students from colleges and other professional courses have been roped in to engage with farmers under the referral scheme for the BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app, which give incentives to spread its use.

According to Ravi Shankar Prasad, Union minister for electronics and information technology, 20 million people have downloaded BHIM so far, and payments worth Rs823 crore have been made. Hence, the bonus will be paid to both the referrer and the new user of BHIM (referee), cited the Indian government website. "I want the support of India's youth in the movement towards increased digital transactions", Modi said.

The referrer will get Rs 10 per successful referral, while the new users will get Rs 25 for downloading and transacting from BHIM App.

CEO NITI Aayog Amitabh Kant said that the launch of BHIM-Aadhaar App and the launch of the two schemes - cashback and referral schemes - would provide a "major impetus to the digital payment revolution in India". Speaking of the digital payments, he announced this offer and launched the BHIM-Aadhaar platform.

"Earlier they debated the BHIM application and now they are debating about the Aadhaar". Once the app has been installed, merchants can easily receive payments from a customer through their 12-digit Unique Aadhaar Number.

Party Vice President Rahul Gandhi also remembered Ambedkar on his birth anniversary and said, "Babasaheb's life and his work embody the struggle for the conscience of a nation".

The Aadhaar Pay is the advanced version of the prior Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS), especially useful for merchants. The government has requested all public sector banks to go live with Aadhaar Pay and the National Payments Corporation of India for a smooth process. The customer's fingerprint is the password used to authenticate the transaction.

It will allow to reduce the cash transactions in the country, and the use of credit and debit cards. "Soon the poor of the country will chant Digidhan, Nijidhan", he added.

Similarly, Aadhaar Enable Payments have doubled from 2.5 crore in November 2016 to over five crore in March 2017, and Immediate Payment Service transactions jumped from 3.6 to 6.7 during the same period.

To ensure that the culture of digital payments permeates down to the grassroots.